Monthly Archives: October 2012

Scientists believe marijuana compound could fight cancer

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“Scientists in California believe they may have discovered a compound in marijuana that can reduce the aggressiveness of some forms of cancer.

The San Francisco Gate reports on the data that has been years in the making. While marijuana has been shown to help reduce nausea and pain in cancer patients, scientists believe that a compound in marijuana has the ability to “turn off” the activity of a gene responsible for metastasis in breast and other types of cancers.

The research team is working out of San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute and have been working for years on the study. The compound they’re focused on, called cannabidiol, does not produce the psychotropic high associated with marijuana.

Last year, the team published a small study showing the positive effects of cannabidiol on mice. New data is about to be released that expands upon the previous results that the researchers hope will help propel the study even further.

“The preclinical trial data is very strong, and there’s no toxicity. There’s really a lot of research to move ahead with and to get people excited,” said Sean McAllister, who is working alongside scientist Pierre Desprez in the study.

Desprez and McAllister believe that their merging of separate areas of study was serendipitous.

Desprez had been studying the protein ID-1, which he found to play an important role in how cancer could spread. McAllister, on the other hand, was focused on studying anabolic steroids in drug abuse. He soon became focused on with the role non-psychotropic cannabidiol, or CBD, interacts with cancer.

McAllister, after hearing an internal seminar from Desprez on his studies of ID-1, came up with the question “How effective would cannabidiol be on targeting metastatic cancer cells?”

The two then teamed up, with Desprez armed with ID-1 cancer-causing protein, and McAllister with CBD, his cancer-fighting compound.

For their experimentation, the doctors exposed ID-1 to CBD in a petri dish. In a shocking result, the ID-1, the cancer-causing protein, reverted to a normal state and stopped acting “crazy.”

“We thought we did the experiment the wrong way,” McAllister said of the overwhelming results.

However, their results proved to be consisted.

“I told Sean, ‘Maybe your drug is working through my gene,’ ” Desprez said.

What the researchers have discovered thus far in their research is that CBD turns off the overexpression of ID-1, which prevents it from traveling to foreign tissues. Thus, the metastasization – cancer’s fatal ability – is blocked.

In the wake of their positive results, the doctors were forced to emphasize that the CBD will only work in the presence of high levels of ID-1 and these do not include all cancerous tumors but, rather, aggressive, metastatic cells. High levels have been found in leukemia, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, brain and other cancers.”
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Scientists-believe-marijuana-compound-could-fight-cancer-170689736.html#ixzz29rQbc2oS

Marijuana May Fight Lung Tumors WebMD

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WebMD: Better information. Better health.
 
 
 
“Cannabis Compound Slows Cancer Spread in Mice, Researchers Say.
 
… the active ingredient in marijuana may help combat lung cancer, new research suggests. In lab and mouse studies, the compound, known as THC, cut lung tumor growth in half and helped prevent the cancer from spreading, says Anju Preet, PhD, a Harvard University researcher in Boston who tested the chemical.While a lot more work needs to be done, “the results suggest THC has therapeutic potential,” she tells WebMD.Moreover, other early research suggests the cannabis compound could help fight brain, prostate, and skin cancers as well, Preet says.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The finding builds on the recent discovery of the body’s own cannabinoid system, Preet says. Known as endocannabinoids, the natural cannabinoids stimulate appetite and control pain and inflammation.

THC seeks out, attaches to, and activates two specific endocannabinoids that are present in high amounts on lung cancer cells, Preet says. This revs up their natural anti-inflammatory properties. Inflammation can promote the growth and spread of cancer.

In the new study, the researchers first demonstrated that THC inhibited the growth and spread of cells from two different lung cancer cell lines and from patient lung tumors. Then, they injected THC into mice that had been implanted with human lung cancer cells. After three weeks, tumors shrank by about 50%, compared with tumors in untreated mice.

Paul B. Fisher, PhD, a professor of clinical pathology at Columbia University, says that though the work is “interesting,” it’s still very early.

“The issue with using a drug of this type becomes the window of concentration that will be effective. Can you physiologically achieve what you want without causing unwanted effects?” he tells WebMD.”

More:http://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/news/20070417/marijuana-may-fight-lung-tumors

“{Delta}-9 Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits growth and metastasis of lung cancer.”  http://www.aacrmeetingabstracts.org/cgi/content/meeting_abstract/2007/1_Annual_Meeting/4749%20?maxtoshow&hits=80&RESULTFORMAT&fulltext=cannabinoid&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=1760&resourcetype=HWCIT

“Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol inhibits epithelial growth factor-induced lung cancer cell migration in vitro as well as its growth and metastasis in vivo.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17621270

Marijuana Chemical May Fight Brain Cancer – WebMD

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“Active Component In Marijuana Targets Aggressive Brain Cancer Cells, Study Says
 
The active chemical in marijuana promotes the death of brain cancer cells by essentially helping them feed upon themselves, researchers in Spain report.Guillermo Velasco and colleagues at Complutense University in Spain have found that the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, causes brain cancer cells to undergo a process called autophagy. Autophagy is the breakdown of a cell that occurs when the cell essentially self-digests.The team discovered that cannabinoids such as THC had anticancer effects in mice with human brain cancer cells and people with brain tumors. When mice with the human brain cancer cells received the THC, the tumor growth shrank.Two patients enrolled in a clinical trial received THC directly to the brain as an experimental treatment for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, a highly aggressive brain tumor.  Biopsies taken before and after treatment helped track their progress.  After receiving the THC, there was evidence of increased autophagy activity.

The findings appear in the April 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The patients did not have any toxic effects from the treatment. Previous studies of THC for the treatment of cancer have also found the therapy to be well tolerated, according to background information in journal article.

Study authors say their findings could lead to new strategies for preventing tumor growth.”

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/brain-cancer/news/20090401/marijuana-chemical-may-fight-brain-cancer

“Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells”: http://www.jci.org/articles/view/37948

Marijuana Compounds Could Beat Back Brain Cancer – ABCNews

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“Preliminary research suggests that a combination of compounds in marijuana could help fight off a particularly deadly form of brain cancer.

But the findings shouldn’t send patients rushing to buy pot: the levels used in the research appear to be too high to obtain through smoking. And there’s no sign yet that the approach works in laboratory animals, let alone people.

Still, the finding does suggest that more than one compound in marijuana might boost cancer treatment, said study author Sean McAllister, an associate scientist at California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute in San Francisco. “Combination therapies might be more appropriate,” McAllister said.

Researchers have long studied the compounds in marijuana known as cannabinoids, which are thought to hold possible health benefits. One, known as THC, is well known for its role in making people high when they smoke or eat pot. Researchers have been testing it as a treatment for the brain tumors known as glioblastomas.

In the new study, researchers tested THC and cannabidiol, another compound from marijuana, on brain cancer cells. The findings appear in the January issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

The study authors found that the combination treatment seemed to work better at killing the cancerous cells and preventing them from growing back.

About 9,000 people in the United States develop glioblastomas each year, said Dr. Paul Graham Fisher, chief of the Division of Child Neurology at Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. The most famous patient was the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.

The prognosis for people with the condition is grim because tumors spread throughout the brain. It can be impossible for treatments to remove the entire tumor, Fisher said.

“No matter what you do, this tumor has a larger border than you ever think,” he said. “We know there are microscopic satellites all throughout one side of the brain and pretty soon in the other side of the brain. The only thing that will fix this disease is something that provides a more blanket approach.”

Instead of targeting the tumors itself, he explained, treatments need to do something like disrupt the pathways that cancer cells use to communicate.

In the big picture, “you’re seeing a lot more thinking outside the box about trying to treat glioblastoma,” he said. “I think in the next 10 to 15 years we’re going to start seeing progress forward.”

For now, he said, there’s no evidence that marijuana is good or bad for glioblastoma tumors.

Back in the laboratory, McAllister said the next step is to test the combination treatment on laboratory animals and then on people. The treatment may be given to people directly through the brain, which could be expensive. But the compounds themselves may not be expensive, McAllister said.

As for the idea of getting the same effect through a couple of marijuana joints, he had this to say: “It’s unlikely that you could reach effective concentrations by smoking the plant.””

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/marijuana-compounds-beat-back-brain-cancer/story?id=9534388

“Cannabinoids selectively inhibit proliferation and induce death of cultured human glioblastoma multiforme cells.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16078104

Can Cannabidiol (CBD) Fight Metastatic Cancer? According to the latest research the answer is yes. Important news for Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s new line of high concentrate CBD health and wellness products.

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“(OTC: MJNA), a leading hemp industry innovator, is pleased to report on a September 18 San Francisco Chronicle Article, “Pot compound seen as tool against cancer.” The article states that scientists at California Pacific Medical Center who have been researching marijuana’s compounds for the 20 years have found that Cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize. CBD is the second-most abundant cannabinoid within marijuana, but does not cause the psychotropic high of THC.

As stated in the article: “We started by researching breast cancer,” said scientist Pierre Desprez. “But now we’ve found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers–brain, prostate–any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.” Desprez said he is hopeful clinical trials will begin immediately. He currently has grant funding through the National Institutes of Health, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the U.S. Department of Defense and the California Breast Cancer Research Program.

As previously announced in the MJNA press release dated September 5, MJNA portfolio company, Red Dice Holdings, recently launched its Hemp-based high concentrate CBD health and wellness products, Dixie X, for over-the-counter sales. These Cannabidiol products represent the highest strength of CBD products on the market today, and this same concentrate will soon be used to launch the CanChew Biotechnologies line of CBD-enriched chewing gum. Click here for recent production news from PhytoSphere. Dixie X can currently be purchased in over 100 retail locations in Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico as well as on-line by anyone living in the U.S.

In short, MJNA and its portfolio company, PhytoSphere Systems, currently produces non-THC, high quality CBD enriched Hemp oil that according to this story, may fight the most aggressive forms of cancers we know of today.

Studies, such as those in this article and at Project CBD, have continually shown that these non-psychoactive CBD wellness products provide powerful relief for pain and anxiety sufferers, but without the euphoric effects provided by THC. The CBD health and wellness industry is estimated by MJNA to be a $5 billion market.”

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49117540/Can_Cannabidiol_CBD_Fight_Metastatic_Cancer_According_to_the_latest_research_the_answer_is_yes_Important_news_for_Medical_Marijuana_Inc_s_new_line_of_high_concentrate_CBD_health_and_wellness_products

Marijuana Compound Fights Cancer; Human Trials Next

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(NBC) “Research shows component in medical cannabis fights cancer.”

“The “medical” bit of medical marijuana may be legitimate after all: Turns out a component of cannabis fights cancer, according to research.

Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center found that cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If this plant were discovered in the Amazon today, scientists would be falling all over each other to be the first to bring it to market,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of oncology at the University of California San Francisco, which has also found science behind marijuana’s efficacy.

The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients, the newspaper reported. AIDS patients also swear by cannabis for its ability to allow them to eat, sleep and otherwise function.

Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole, according to the newspaper. The researchers hope to move to clinical trials on humans soon.

Cancer cells exposed to cannabidiol lost their abilities to metastasize, according to the newspaper.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Marijuana-Compound-Fights-Cancer-Human-Trials-Next-170406116.html

NBC News Reports that Cannabidiol (CBD) “Turns Off” the Cancer Gene Involved in Metastasis Findings by Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center gives Scientific Support for Cannabis Science

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“Cannabis Science (CBIS), a pioneering U.S. Biotech Company developing pharmaceutical products for global public health challenges, reports on a recent press release by the San Francisco NBC news, with new studies by Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center, which have shown that cannabidiol, (CBD -1.18%, news), has the ability to “turn off” a gene that causes breast and other types of cancers to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper.

NBC News reports, “The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients. AIDS patients also use cannabis to eat, sleep and otherwise be more functional. Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole. The researchers hope to move to clinical trials on humans soon to test the cannabidiol inhibition of metastasis, reported in the San Francisco Chronicle. “What they found is that the cannabinoid turns off the overexpression of ID-1, which makes the cells lose their ability to travel to distant tissues. In other words, it keeps the cells more local and blocks their ability to metastasize. (spread to a new location) The researchers stressed cannabidiol works only on cancer cells that have these high levels of ID-1 and these do not include all cancerous tumors but, rather, aggressive, metastatic cells. But they’ve found such high levels in leukemia, colorectal, pancreatic, lung, ovarian, brain and other cancers.””

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=BW&date=20120920&id=15582334

SF Scientists: Marijuana Fights Cancer

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(NBC Bay Area) “The “medical” bit of medical marijuana may be legitimate after all: Turns out a component of cannabis fights cancer, according to research.

Scientists at California Pacific Medical Center found that cannabidiol, or CBD, has the ability to “turn off” the DNA that causes “breast and other types of cancers” to metastasize, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“If this plant were discovered in the Amazon today, scientists would be falling all over each other to be the first to bring it to market,” said Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of oncology at the University of California San Francisco, which has also found science behind marijuana’s efficacy.

The drug “has been shown to reduce pain and nausea” in cancer patients, the newspaper reported. AIDS patients also swear by cannabis for its ability to allow them to eat, sleep and otherwise function.

Turns out that cannabidiol has none of the psychotropic effects of marijuana as a whole, according to the newspaper.”

http://m.nbcbayarea.com/nbcbayarea/pm_108022/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=DXQ0PNfC

Cannabinoids, Endocannabinoids, and Related Analogs in Inflammation.

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“This review covers reports published in the last 5 years on the anti-inflammatory activities of all classes of cannabinoids, including phytocannabinoids such as tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, synthetic analogs such as ajulemic acid and nabilone, the endogenous cannabinoids anandamide and related compounds, namely, the elmiric acids, and finally, noncannabinoid components of Cannabis that show anti-inflammatory action. It is intended to be an update on the topic of the involvement of cannabinoids in the process of inflammation. A possible mechanism for these actions is suggested involving increased production of eicosanoids that promote the resolution of inflammation. This differentiates these cannabinoids from cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors that suppress the synthesis of eicosanoids that promote the induction of the inflammatory process.”

 

“INTRODUCTION

This review is intended to be an update on the topic of the involvement of cannabinoids in the process of inflammation. Other reviews cover certain aspects of this subject and the reader is referred to them for a discussion of earlier reports. In this review are reports published in the last 5 years on the activities of all classes of cannabinoids, including the endogenous cannabinoids such as anandamide, related compounds such as the elmiric acids (EMAs), and noncannabinoid components of Cannabis that show anti-inflammatory action. An interesting recently published example of the latter one is caryophyllene, an abundant component of Cannabis oil that shows anti-inflammatory activity and has high affinity for cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2; 5).”

 

“Phytocannabinoids: Tetrahydrocannabinol and Cannabidiol”

 

“PLANT PREPARATIONS AND NONCANNABINOID CONSTITUENTS OF CANNABIS”

“Cannabis sativa is a complex botanical, and it is not unlikely that the therapeutic benefits of marijuana are due to some of the more than 60 cannabinoids and 200–250 noncannabinoid constituents of the plant. One noncannabinoid, the geranylated flavone cannflavin A (Fig. 5), is 30 times more potent than aspirin as an inhibitor of prostaglandin E2 . These potentially important findings have been overlooked, as most attention in marijuana research has been directed to the analgesic effects of the plant and to mechanisms of psychoactivity. A further example that this line of inquiry has remained dormant is a series of overlooked observations, which demonstrate potent anti-inflammatory actions of a crude marijuana extract and of the nonpsychoactive Cannabis constituents, CBD, cannabinol, and cannabichromene in the carrageenan paw edema model of acute inflammation in rats. Volatile oil products of the plant also have biological activity. Thus, pyrolysis products may add to the therapeutic properties of smoked marijuana. Several of the most abundant cannabinoid and noncannabinoid constituents of C. sativa are nonpsychoactive.”

“Flavonoids are ubiquitous plant phenolic compounds that consist of two aromatic rings linked by a three carbon bridge. They are attracting interest because of their antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activities. The flavone luteolin, a constituent of C. sativa, is also found in spices and in vegetables such as celery and green pepper. When added to peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro, luteolin suppresses production of the inflammatory cytokines TNFα, IL-1b, and IL-6, actions that relate to a selective reduction in numbers of monocytes. Perhaps more importantly, luteolin inhibits growth of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro and protects against induction of colon cancer in mice.”

“CONCLUSIONS

Possibly the very earliest literature reference on Cannabis describes its use as an anti-inflammatory agent. The Chinese emperor Shen-nung (ca. 2000 B.C.), in a work called Pen-ts’ao Ching, noted many of the effects of Cannabis in humans. Among other properties, it was claimed that cannabis “undoes rheumatism”, suggesting possible anti-inflammatory effects. The reports described in this review of the current literature provide support for the claims made by the ancient Chinese healers. These more recent publications include relief from chronic neuropathic pain, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, and postoperative pain. In addition, a large body of preclinical data on all classes of cannabinoids, including the endogenous examples, point to a variety of therapeutic targets for cannabinoids and important roles for the endocannabinoids in the physiology of inflammation.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2664885/

Endocannabinoid overactivity and intestinal inflammation

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Abstract

“Cannabinoid receptors of type 1 and 2 (CB1 and CB2), endogenous ligands that activate them (endocannabinoids), and mechanisms for endocannabinoid biosynthesis and inactivation have been identified in the gastrointestinal system. Activation of CB1 receptors by endocannabinoids produces relaxation of the lower oesophageal sphincter and inhibition of gastric acid secretion, intestinal motility, and fluid stimulated secretion. However, stimulation of cannabinoid receptors impacts on gastrointestinal functions in several other ways. Recent data indicate that the endocannabinoid system in the small intestine and colon becomes over stimulated during inflammation in both animal models and human inflammatory disorders. The pathological significance of this “endocannabinoid overactivity” and its possible exploitation for therapeutic purposes are discussed here.”

 

“The endocannabinoid system of the gastrointestinal tract includes not only cannabinoid receptors but also endogenous agonists of these receptors, as well as mechanisms for their biosynthesis and inactivation”

 

“The main psychotropic constituent of the plant Cannabis sativa and marijuana, Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol, exerts its pharmacological effects by activating two G protein coupled cannabinoid receptors.1These are the CB1 receptor, present in central and peripheral nerves (including the human enteric nervous system), and the CB2 receptor, expressed abundantly in immune cells. In rodents, CB1 receptor immunoreactivity has been detected in discrete nuclei of the dorsovagal complex (involved in emesis), and in efferents from the vagal ganglia and in enteric (myenteric and submucosal) nerve terminals where they inhibit excitatory (mainly cholinergic) neurotransmission. In vivo pharmacological studies have shown that activation of CB1 receptors reduces emesis, produces inhibition of gastric acid secretion8 and relaxation of the lower oesophageal sphincter (two effects that might be beneficial in the treatment of gastro‐oesophageal reflux disease), and inhibits intestinal motility and secretion. Consistent with immunohistochemical data showing that CB2 receptors are particularly evident in colonic tissues from patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), evidence suggests that CB2 inhibits intestinal motility during certain pathological states.1″

 

“…endocannabinoids convey protection from enteric hypersecretory states (for example, cholera toxin induced diarrhoea), which is in agreement with anecdotal reports from folk medicine on the use of Cannabis sativa in the treatment of diarrhoea.“

 

“Overactivity of the endocannabinoid system is becoming a well established concept in human intestinal conditions with an inflammatory component”

   

“The inhibitory effects of cannabinoids on intestinal inflammation, as well as on intestinal motility and secretory diarrhoea, observed in preclinical studies, increase the potential for their use in the treatment of IBD”

  

“There is great potential for the development of new therapeutic agents against intestinal inflammation from the endocannabinoid system”

 

“Conclusions: new therapies for the treatment of IBD from the endocannabinoid system”

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1856409/